13
11
2007
The children chose to hold a learning festival as a display of their knowledge and what a successful day it was! Other classes, parents and relatives came to visit and learn all about World War 2. By far the most popular stall was Dean’s “throw a sponge at Hitler” stall. 
This was his way of proving his learning as he had written facts about Hitler. Interestingly when the project was being evaluated Dean said he would always remember Hitler’s “awful actions”. He also remarked on the fact that he would “never have been allowed to do the stall he chose if the teachers had been left to plan the festival and not the children”. Indeed Dean was not alone in his motivation to learn since what they were learning, the way in which they learnt and how they proved their learning was all chosen by the children themselves!
The festival was a huge success and the service which followed was a poignant reminder to us all of the atrocities of the War. Well done yet again to Primary 6 for all their hard work!
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : Sheila Howat, Uncategorized
13
11
2007
We all certainly looked the part on our trip to the Museum of Flight. Thankfully there is no photographic evidence of Jennifer or I dressed as “old time teachers”! The children had made a real effort, dressed as evacuees they left the school as the Management and Office staff sang “we’ll meet again”. We began at the War Memorial in Cockenzie then left for the Museum at East Fortune.
We were taken into a hanger and the children had to get down on the floor when they heard the air raid siren. They had to lay out equipment as if they were soldiers and then saw many different war planes. We ended the day watching Goodnight Mr Tom and a few tears were shed!
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : Sheila Howat, Uncategorized
12
11
2007
I liked talking in the room to practice what I was going to say to the class.
I liked when we read the story because I thought it was good. I liked to imagine the 2 schools - one being nice and new and the other being old.
We enjoyed it! It was good because we didn’t need to do any writing. The story was a little funny because I never thought it would be like that. It was weird! It is like you would never think that Scotland and England had had a battle until someone told me. It does not seem normal. In fact I thought the story was actually quite sad but at the end it was quite happy because the boy spoke up and so everyone could drink from the water fountain, go to different restaurants and go to any school.
It was good because we had to choose our own partners.
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Campie Project
12
11
2007
This morning the children were learning about Martin Luther King Jr and why sometimes rules can make people angry. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Campie Project, Katherine McNaughton
12
11
2007
Last week we were talking about basic needs and how although we don’t need friends to survive life would be very boring, lonely and sad without them. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Campie Project, Katherine McNaughton
6
11
2007
Since the October holidays I have been working in my own school with Mrs Goodman and her P5 class. Funnily enough this was my class last year in P4 so it will be interesting to see how we get on. I am hoping that knowing them will be an advantage and that I will be able to tap into their abilities and skills. The topic is bullying so we asked them to write down key questions using ‘the ideas trail’ , a tool I have used before.It is a laminated board with numbered stepping stones 1-50.The children put their ideas or questions on it and they can be discussed,sorted or graded according to the task. We were then able to sort the key questions which gave us an indication of the type of questions the children wanted to ask about bullying.More to come soon……
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Prestonpans Project
6
11
2007
I approached the topic from the point of view of the children acting as tour guides for Katherine and handing over responsibility of ”what’ they wanted Katherine to learn about Cockenzie and ‘how’ they were going to do this to the children. At first, I was slightly apprehensive as to how successful this was going to be, especially, since the Primary 1’s were still settling into School life. The children did find this tricky and it was difficult to extend their ideas and thoughts further than the classroom and school grounds. However, with teacher intervention we got there and came up with almost an identical list to that which was already on the Environmental Studies topic plan.
Approaching it from this way gave the children total control of their topic, which resulted in a very motivated and engaged class! The children chose very practical ways to report information and models and photographs played a key role. I think it is important to remember that certain skills still need to be taught but it is about allowing them to choose which skill they want to use during a specific task.
Our topic ‘Our Community’ allowed meaningful cross-curricular links to be established and Active learning was always at the forefront of our learning, which was undoubtedly easier to deliever with two class teachers.
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Cockenzie Project, Katherine McNaughton
6
11
2007
Last week I focused on the Golden Rules with the children and then we looked at rules for different clubs. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Campie Project, Katherine McNaughton
5
11
2007
I am now working within my own school - Campie Primary School, Musselburgh - with P2a and Miss Claire Flagerty. The 3 main outcomes for the project are: that the children will understand their basic needs (physical and emotional) and be able to to identify ways in which they are met, that the children will understand rules and the need for them,
and the children will know that there are different viewpoints within a disagreement. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Campie Project, Katherine McNaughton
5
11
2007
For the last few weeks my class has been involved in a project for the Curriculum for Excellence. http://www.curriculumforexcellencescotla…) We’ve been particularly thinking about Active Learning—this is trying to move away from ‘chalk-and-talk’ teaching and towards, where possible, the children discovering things for themselves. A colleague suggests that it means the teacher not being the sage on the stage but a guide on the side.
We’ve been investigating Light and Sound, which we did through making Shadow Puppets. This began to spread through other subject areas—we found ourselves covering Drama, Technology and lots of Language work in addition to the Science outcomes we’d expected. We realised we’d need a reason to use the puppets - an occasion - so we wrote plays to perform for our Nursery Children.
As a teacher, it’s been very much a learning experience for me. I’ve seen children show unexpected strengths, as we’ve worked in different ways. I’ve found it quite powerful to watch the children learning from each other. It’s been interesting to watch the P4 children making decisions about what would be appropriate for Nursery Children; their judgments were surprisingly realistic.
There have been strengths and issues that need further development: working in this way has meant a cross-curricular approach is essential - we certainly haven’t been limited by subject constraints. It’s also kept the children very motivated and engaged in their own learning. It has taken over our classroom - a good thing when it generates this much interest - but I know we’ve done less work than normal on some areas, which I’ll have to make up. Also, it’s making the children think about their own learning much more; not just what facts they’ve learned, but about how the way they’ve been working has been a good thing for them as growing individuals.
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Jackie Hunter
The children chose to hold a learning festival as a display of their knowledge and what a successful day it was! Other classes, parents and relatives came to visit and learn all about World War 2. By far the most popular stall was Dean’s “throw a sponge at Hitler” stall. 
This was his way of proving his learning as he had written facts about Hitler. Interestingly when the project was being evaluated Dean said he would always remember Hitler’s “awful actions”. He also remarked on the fact that he would “never have been allowed to do the stall he chose if the teachers had been left to plan the festival and not the children”. Indeed Dean was not alone in his motivation to learn since what they were learning, the way in which they learnt and how they proved their learning was all chosen by the children themselves!
Recent Comments